The present invention relates generally to a safety seat belt system for use in an automotive vehicle and more particularly to an improvement thereof for easy ingress and egress to and from a seat.
In general, the prior art three-point safety seat belt consists of an inner belt, a shoulder belt, a lap belt and a buckle and tongue coupling. Fastening this safety seat belt consists of two steps, in the first step an occupant grips the tongue and in the next step he inserts it into the buckle for engagement therewith. Even when the safety seat belt is not fastened, it does not blind the occupant's front view and it does not restrict the free space for an occupant. In other words, a driver may drive his car irrespective of whether he fastens the safety seat belt or not.
Therefore even when the safety seat belt is installed, it has not been fully used for its intended purpose because an occupant forgets to fasten the safety seat belt or he does not want to fasten it.
The present invention was made to overcome the above problem, and has for its object to provide a safety belt system which may be readily fastened and which must be fastened once an occupant, especially a driver, sits on the seat.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a safety belt system in which an inner belt is made of a material having a high tensile strength but a very small elongation percentage to restricting the extension of the inner belt to the minimum in case of a collision, thereby preventing a secondary collision of an occupant in the compartment.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a safety belt system in which an inner belt is made of a spring material for coiled or helical springs which exhibits the positive spring characteristics so that the self-winding tendency of the inner belt may be advantageously utilized together with the winding force of an inner belt retractor and consequently the positive, reliable and dependable rewinding of the inner belt may be ensured.
The present invention will become more apparent from the following description of one preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.